It’s all-too-rare to hear about urban neurodiverse play areas so, in great news, what’s being called a “playscape” by multidisciplinary design studio The Urban Conga recently opened in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood at the Polo Grounds Towers on Frederick Douglass Blvd.

Working with the Polo Grounds residents, The Urban Congo turned an empty courtyard with battered benches into a multi-sensory play space. It uses texture, color, reflections, movement, sounds and scale to focus on what a spokesperson says will accommodate “a wide range of neurological differences and cognitive styles.”

Sprout has leaf-like structures in various heights meant to appear as if they’re growing up from the ground. They reach across four “zones” and contain kinetic elements made of reflective pieces that can be spun and which change colors, and were designed in part to help accommodate those with ADHD.

There’s also a bench area that has no direct interaction with the structure and aims to serve as a quiet space to escape from sensory overload.

Sprout was organized by the Polo Grounds neighborhood stakeholder team (NSTAT) along with the Center for Innovative Justice and is part of the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP) that reimagines public safety and wellbeing through place-base resident-drive decision-making and government investment. 

Photo credit: Mars and the Moon Films